Sensory and physico-chemical properties of commercial samples of honey

Honey samples that are available commercially, differ in quality on account of various factors like geographical, seasonal and processing conditions, floral source, packaging and storage period. Eleven commercial samples of Indian honey were studied for sensory and physico-chemical properties. Sensory analysis was carried out using quantitative descriptive analysis method. Moisture content varied from 17 to 22.6%, degreesBrix from 76 to 81.5%, pH from 3.62 to 5.46, apparent viscosity from 1.79 to 13.8 Pascal see, acidity from 0.03 to 0.15%, total reducing sugars from 61.3 to 72.6% and sucrose from 1.2 to 5.7%. Colour parameters namely L* a* b* were measured and a* was found to be an important variable in grouping the samples. Principal component analysis was performed on sensory and physico-chemical variables for analysing the relationship among groups of variables, and grouping the samples in the multidimensional space. The dominant quality attributes for the groups are discussed in relation to the directional vectors. The important sensory parameters selected by the multivariate program, which grouped the samples were flowery, fruity, waxy, jaggery-like, chemical and caramelised notes while the physico-chemical parameters were viscosity, a*, percentage acidity and sucrose content. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.